1. Field
The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to methods and systems for monitoring wireless network capacity.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, wireless communication systems can contemporaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Each mobile device can communicate with one or more network elements (e.g. base stations) via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from mobile devices to base stations.
Currently, wireless network operators have difficulties in monitoring networks in a vendor-independent methodology/decision framework. Consequently, it would be desirable to have an efficient method and/or apparatus for monitoring key capacity attributes of wireless networks operating under mixed data and voice usage scenarios and to allow for proactive actions to be taken to avoid any adverse impact on user service perception.